Thanksgiving giveaway halted, rescheduled after traffic jam

2:51 PM,
Nov. 27, 2012

Dozens of volunteers gathered at Least of These food pantry in Nixa the Thursday before Thanksgiving. The volunteers prepared more than 800 grocery bags for the less fortunate of Christian County. The two-day giveaway on the Friday before Thanksgiving snarled traffic at the intersection of Highway 13, West Kathryn Street and Aldersgate Drive.

Written by

Rance Burger
RBURGER@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Thanksgiving grocery distributions at Least of These food pantry ended up successful for more than 800 Christian County families, but not without some intervention from police.

Nixa Mayor Sam Clifton was shopping at Walmart on the Friday before Thanksgiving when he looked across U.S. 160 and noticed a major traffic backup. Least of These provided drive-up service to people who had registered to receive Thanksgiving groceries.

"Unfortunately, our attempt to distribute baskets on Friday caused a large traffic jam. With the safety of the community in mind, the Nixa police asked that we ...